I would try this. It's what works for me. I cut all grains, all sugar, alcohol, and processed foods. My doctor told me that some people have a metabolic issue where if they eat carbs they can't lose weight. In paleo/primal, they say it's due to constantly spiking your insulin- insulin is the hormone that feeds your fat cells. Stop spiking insulin, and you reverse that- you stop feeding the fat cells and start taking fat out of them for use as energy. That's a simplification, mind you, but it works for me. I can lose weight on a high protein and fat but low carb diet, and I don't even bother counting calories.
Everyone has pretty much covered everything. But I was drinking over a gallon of water in the beginning and losing. Now that is has been cold I don't feel as thirsty and only drink 8. -9 glasses a day and have stalled. I don't think they r related, but I don't think a gallon is too much. I also was sort of constipated in the beggining so I added chia seed and chlorophyll. All the extra fiber made me go really well every day. Chia has 5 grams of fiber per serving I have 2 a day. I can't rave enough about those two things. So try adding those or just more fiber
Maybe your calories r too low, but I would say watch the carbs when adding more, and see a dr if posible. I remember growing up hearing my aunt had a thyroid problem that inhibited her weight loss, I know she had a gym in her house that she used regularly and I hated eating at her house because her food was super healthy, as a kid all those veggies grossed me out. Well thats my 2cents if it means anything. Best of luck and if at first u don't succeed try try again!
The first 2 weeks were really hard, but I am not the least bit hungry at all right now.
I just had to force myself to eat my sandwich for lunch. I could probably get through the entire day without eating any food. My desire to eat has switched off. My stomach does not produce hunger signals.
What do you make of that? What does it mean that I'm not hungry? I should be starving.
I think if you're not eliminating your food, your body is probably sending signals to not eat anymore because... well, WHERE is it going to put it?!
I would consider taking some magnesium supplements (preferrably citrate, rather than oxide) to see if it will get things moving again in your bowels.
Or you can try to walk more that can also help constipation.
I think if you get your digestive system moving again -- and you can consider food enzymes and probiotics -- you might find you're hungry again and things are moving better for you.
If i was you i'd try NOT to eat anything made outside my house. I'd use original ingredients, cook them in olive oil, use flour to make my own whole wheat bread and make my own sandwich....also more fruits and more salads without heavy dressings.....
PS: My red flags in what i read (although pls i am not from your country and my cooking/meals are totally different than yours, are the words Oatmeal, peanut butter, honey/mustard, american cheese, sweet potato). For example lentils i have no idea how you make them there, but here we boil them with carrots and a dry onion add some fresh tomato and add some salt pepper and vinegar with olive oil. That on it's own is a FULL meal here and it is eaten at lunch as a very small bowl. I'd suggest take out such heavy eating at night and replace the 'empty salad with something more elaborate. Like lettuce/tomato/cucumber/hard boiled egg, some low fat cheese (don't know what you have there), and make a sauce out of vinegar, olive oil and PLAIN mustard without added ingredients. For example the Dijon is VERY fattening.....Eat it with ONE slice of whole wheat bread. It will fill you up and it will be FAR lighter than the lentil soup.
Last edited by Ellemphriem; 02-01-2013 at 02:16 PM.
Fatloss is an equation of energy balance. Period.
If you are not losing fat, than you are not creating a substantial deficit (or you might be most days, but wiping the ENTIRE weeks deficit away through cheat meals, and believe me, thats MORE than possible to do).
If you arent creating a substantial enough calorie deficit, then you are either -eating too much (knowingly/unknowingly)
-not moving as much as you believe you are (ie; not accurately accounting for the calories you burn in a day)
Either way, your energy balance is approximately equal over a time span, and you arent losing weight. How people go about creating their deficits, and medical conditions that slow metabolism, reduce activity, etc are all factors that play into how much you take in vs how much your body puts out.
but at the end of the day, its cals in vs cals out.
And rest assured, one month of dieting at 1200 cals (especially when no fat loss occured!) did NOT slow or destroy your metabolism.
I wont get in
I'd consider seeing your doctor then. If you are taking any medication that could be one factor, there's always a chance you have some kind of issue with your thyroid, or some other thing like PCOS which can make it more difficult to lose weight.
I also suggest this. Seeing nothing on a 1200-1400 strict plan for an entire month seems odd to me, especially at the beginning.
You could try upping your calories, but I don't know, I've been on 1200 since I started. I know everyone is different though.
I haven't seen anyone say this and I don't know if it's stupid, I haven't searched for any information on it, but I know that it's true for me: If I stop eating fat, I stop pooping. Could that be true for you? If it is, maybe you lost in the beginning and then you stopped because you eat way too little and the bit of weight you lost doesn't show because you're constipated? Just wondering...
Ellemphriem, if you don't mind me asking, are you Greek? Because you just described fakes.
Fatloss is an equation of energy balance. Period.
If you are not losing fat, than you are not creating a substantial deficit (or you might be most days, but wiping the ENTIRE weeks deficit away through cheat meals, and believe me, thats MORE than possible to do).
If you arent creating a substantial enough calorie deficit, then you are either -eating too much (knowingly/unknowingly)
-not moving as much as you believe you are (ie; not accurately accounting for the calories you burn in a day)
Either way, your energy balance is approximately equal over a time span, and you arent losing weight. How people go about creating their deficits, and medical conditions that slow metabolism, reduce activity, etc are all factors that play into how much you take in vs how much your body puts out.
but at the end of the day, its cals in vs cals out.
And rest assured, one month of dieting at 1200 cals (especially when no fat loss occured!) did NOT slow or destroy your metabolism.
I wont get in
Exactly right.
Please do not think you need to eat more to lose fat faster. It is not true.
What you need is patience and to be honest with yourself about your intake. (Not saying you're not being honest just that you need to be)
If two more weeks go by with no change see a doctor.
The fact that she should, or should not be, eating more than 1200 calories a day really has little to do with the issue at hand. A month at 1200 has not affected her metabolism and it would be very unusual for somebody at her starting weight and eating that many calories to not lose more than she has. She sounds quite diligent about the measuring and logging, and says there are no cheat meals involved and there is no reason to doubt her.
Personally, I'd probably get a full physical, with blood work, and be sure there isn't something medical going on. Your situation is pretty unusual and probably calls for more input than you can get on a forum.
As an aside, you can lose weight quite successfully on the 1200 calorie plan, I did it, but it requires more effort to be sure that you're supplying your body with everything it needs. Generally this means fewer grains and more lean protein, fruits, vegis and healthy fats. Subway is fairly low calorie, but tends to be full of sodium and most of the breads are simply empty calories.
That's not true for me. When I eat way too little, I can tell after a few weeks because I have Hashimoto's and severe iron deficiency and my boatload of symptoms get worse very quickly. And I lose nothing.
I also wanted to suggest that you go to a doctor, but I forgot.
I'm not a medical expert either, but at this point, and having read the whole thread, I do believe it's time to go see your Dr. and get a good physical, and discuss what's going on. And be honest with them, and yourself.
They can't help you if you fib. (my hub is great at not telling all! Dork)
Beyond that, different things work for different folks.
It's a grand experiment in learning what works for you.
I know, what works for me, does not work for either of my sisters. While we have some common things that work, we also have other things that we can or cannot do. Just depends.
I haven't seen anyone say this and I don't know if it's stupid, I haven't searched for any information on it, but I know that it's true for me: If I stop eating fat, I stop pooping. Could that be true for you? If it is, maybe you lost in the beginning and then you stopped because you eat way too little and the bit of weight you lost doesn't show because you're constipated? Just wondering...
Ellemphriem, if you don't mind me asking, are you Greek? Because you just described fakes.
Yes i am
Last edited by Ellemphriem; 02-01-2013 at 09:38 PM.
Personally, I'd probably get a full physical, with blood work, and be sure there isn't something medical going on. Your situation is pretty unusual and probably calls for more input than you can get on a forum.
I agree. For some reason I thought it had been two weeks. Assuming accurate logging something else is going on.
